Nat and the S.T.R.I.K.E team were waiting for Steve. We had a mission tonight. So, I texted him while I drove to the park. I pulled up to him in a park while he was talking to a guy.

"Hey, fellas." I smiled, "Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil."

"That's hilarious." Steve replied as he opened the passenger door and got in.

The man that Steve was talking to bent down and smiled at me, "How you doing?"

"I'm good." I responded.

"Can't run everywhere." Steve told the man.

"No, you can't." He replied before I drove off.


As we flew over the Indian Ocean in a jet, Rumlow told us about the mission,

"Target is a mobile satellite launch platform, the Lemurian Star. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them. 93 minutes ago."

"Any demands?" Steve asked.

"Billion and a half." Rumlow answered.

"Why so steep?" Steve questioned.

"Because it's S.H.I.E.L.D's."

"So it's not off course. It's trespassing." Steve said.

"I'm sure they have a good reason." Nat replied.

"You know, I'm getting a little tired or being Fury's janitor."

"Relax. It's not that complicated." I told him.

"How many pirates?" Steve asked Rumlow.

"25. Tops mercs led by this guy," Rumlow pulled up a picture of a man, "George Batroc. Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilized him, he had 36 kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."

"Hostages?"

"Mostly techs. One officer. Jasper Sitwell. They're in the galley." Rumlow informed.

"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" Steve questioned, "All right, I'm going to sweep the deck and find Batroc. Kat, Nat, you two kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to life-pods, get them out. Let's move."

Once we got our parachutes on, Steve jumped first. Without a parachute.


Steve was mad at Nat and I. We didn't tell him that we had a different mission that my dad gave us. We had to get S.H.I.E.L.D information from the ship's computer. And we lost Baroc. While he was with my dad, I leaned against Steve's bike in my civilian clothes which was just a pair of skinny jeans and a leather jacket.

"Hey." I greeted when I saw Steve.

"Hi."

"So, uh, I want to apologize for not telling you anything about Nat and I's mission." I said.

"It's fine." He replied, putting one leg over his motorcycle.

"Steve, to make it up to you, there's a Captain America exhibit at the museum. I heard it's pretty awesome." I said.

He looked over at me, "Awesome?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Hop on."


Steve wore a jacket with its collar up and a baseball hat to hide his face from the people. I acted normal, hooking my arm with Steve's. The line was really long, but we eventually got in.

As we walked by some displays about Steve, I saw a child staring up at him. Steve smiled and winked before putting a finger to his lips, silently asking the boy to keep it a secret. The boy nodded and we continued on.

As I turned to a display about Bucky, I listened to the voice that was speaking,

"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country."

There was a screen that showed a video of Steve and Bucky laughing. I laid my head on Steve's upper arm and sympathetically rubbed his forearm. Steve watched Bucky die, and years later, so did I. After watching Bucky's death, it took me awhile before I could go through more of Steve's memories of the war. It took him a while, too.

After moving on, Steve and I watched a interview of Peggy Carter. Once we were done with the whole exhibit, I left Steve alone. That was more emotional than I thought.

He went to go visit Peggy and I went back to headquarters.


"Dad?" I questioned as I saw him heading towards me in the lobby.

"You left already. Might as well take the rest of the day off. Come on, I'll drive you back to your apartment." Dad said and he grabbed my arm before spinning me around and we walked towards the garage.

"Is everything all right?" I asked.

"Everything's fine, sweetheart."

He was lying. Something was very wrong.